1. Field of the Invention
A certain aspect of this disclosure relates to an information protection apparatus, an information protection method, and a storage medium storing an information protection program.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advancement of information technologies, it has become possible to process various types of information with computer programs and to transmit the processed information via a network. Such information may include “confidential information” such as personal information and trade secrets that are highly confidential and not allowed to be made public. Generally, such confidential information is protected using, for example, encryption technologies.
Encryption keys (e.g., a symmetric key used in symmetric key cryptography and a secret key used in public key cryptography) used to encrypt confidential information are also a type of confidential information that is not allowed to be made public. See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-309737.
Here, if a program for processing confidential information is tampered with or impersonated (for spoofing), the security of the confidential information is compromised. This is particularly relevant to programs that are easily downloadable via a network. Compared with programs that are protected in a secure environment, such downloadable programs can be easily tampered with and are therefore not suitable for processing confidential information. Meanwhile, it may be convenient if programs that can process confidential information are easily available via, for example, a network. To achieve this, however, it is necessary to provide a mechanism for securely protecting confidential information.